The Fashion Swamp: A Rant About Kylie Jenner's New Label
Innovator of the Year? Give me a break.
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The piece you’re reading now is by Divya Venkataraman. Divya is a writer, editor and presenter based in London. She writes across fashion, culture, travel and sustainability for publications like The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar and more. Previously, she was an editor at Vogue Australia, GQ and Vogue Living, and also contributed regularly to Vogue Australia’s print editions. She has also been a regular contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald. Her work has appeared in publications such as British Vogue, The Australian and Meanjin.
Divya writes for News & Reviews Magazine each month. These are her last pieces, from the August, September, and October editions:
Will this be a rant or a column? Good columns are often made of the grittiest, meatiest parts of a rant, and I have something to rant about this month.
On Wednesday, Kylie Jenner dropped the first pieces from her new fashion label, Khy. It’s been pretty roundly trashed in the comments sections of Instagram posts and on TikTok. ‘So we’re calling fast fashion “affordable luxury” now?’, reads one of the top comments on the Wall Street Journal’s post announcing the brand’s launch which read, ‘Kylie Jenner’s New Clothing Brand Bets Big on Affordable Luxury’. ‘Since when is plastic leather “luxury”?’, asked another.
Khy’s website marketing says (rather shouts, all in caps) that it:
AIMS TO REDEFINE THE MODERN WARDROBE BY OFFERING EDITED COLLECTIONS THAT SEAMLESSLY BLEND LUXURY WITH EVERYDAY STYLE SPANNING A DIVERSE RANGE OF CATEGORIES AND STYLES.
It says… nothing. Maybe I was expecting too much by expecting something—anything—at all. When’s the last time you read an even slightly illuminating ‘About Us’ page?
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